Blue Division

The Blue Division, also called Division Azul or the German 250th Infantry Regiment, were a unit of 47,000 volunteer soldiers from Francoist Spain that served in Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht during World War II on the Eastern Front. Because their dictator Francisco Franco was a fascist like the German dictator Adolf Hitler (and because Hitler lent his support to the fascists in the Spanish Civil War), many Spanish men were driven to serve alongside the Germans to repay a debt of gratitude. On 10 October 1943, under immense Allied pressure, Franco was forced to give a withdrawal order to all Spanish troops in Russia. 3,000 refused to return and fought with the Nazis until the end.

History
On 24 June 1941, dictator Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany accepted an offer of help from Francoist Spain in fighting the Bolshevik Soviet Union on the Eastern Front of World War II. 47,000 Spanish volunteers under General Emilio Esteban Infantes were sent to assist the German Wehrmacht (armed forces) in their war with the Bolshevik Russians but were only allowed to fight the Soviets. Franco wanted to repay his debt to Germany that occurred when Germany sent anti-communist forces to aid the Spanish socialists in the Spanish Civil War, and he did not want a war with the Western Allies of the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, British Raj, South Africa, and other British and French possessions and resistance mvoements. He instead sent the volunteers to assist the Germans in their war with the Soviets and they fought with distinction during the Battle of Stalingrad and the Siege of Leningrad. However, on 10 October 1943 Franco was forced to give withdrawal orders to his men after international and Catholic Church pressure forced him to end his quasi-alliance with Germany. 3,000 troops remained in the Axis forces, refusing to return home. During the course of the war, almost 14,000 Spanish troops had been killed or wounded in the service of Germany.